Ariel Myers found guilty in shooting for second time

TROY >> Ariel Myers stared straight ahead as he was declared guilty of both first-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon for the second time in four years on Monday.

As Myers barely showed any emotion while the verdict was read, audible gasps and crying could be heard from his supporters sitting behind him in the courtroom.

While it was a long process for Myers, it was also a harrowing journey for the family of Bob Guynup, who Myers shot in the head during the early morning hours of Sept. 13, 2009 on Madison Avenue near the Griswold Heights Apartments.

Guynup was asleep in his home when the sounds from a fight woke him up. Guynup then went outside to take photographs of the fight but was then shot in the head by Myers, leaving him in a vegetative state and requiring 24-hour care for the rest of his life.

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This was the third trial for Myers as his first ended in a mistrial, and his second ended with being acquitted of second-degree attempted murder but found guilty of two counts of first-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

With this latest conviction, Myers could face five to 25 years for the assault charge and 3 1/2 to 15 years for the possession charge, with both possibly carrying five years post-release supervision.

Assistant District Attorney Shane Hug said while he couldn’t speak for Guynup’s family, this case was a long a difficult one for him both professionally and emotionally.

“I’ve never been a part of a case that was this difficult emotionally to deal with,” Hug said. “Here is a person [Guynup] who could be any one of us who was a true innocent victim. He was at his house and people came and were fighting outside of his house at 3:30 in the morning. He just wanted them to move so his children could go to sleep and [Myers] shot him in the head because of it. It could have been anyone of us.”

Hug gave a lot of praise to Jody Guynup, Bob Guynup’s wife, for the amount of strength she had shown throughout the process and this was just a chapter the family can move on from.

“I’ve never met a stronger person in my life than Jody Guynup to be able to deal with life the way she has,” Hug said.

The jury began deliberations late last Thursday, began them around noon last Friday and delivered the verdict around 3:30 p.m. on Monday.

Judge Andrew Ceresia announced Myers would be sentenced at 9 a.m. on April 10 with pre-sentencing motions due by March 27 and responses due by April 3.